


A Thousand Mosquitos

by Raggedpelt



Category: Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 04:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raggedpelt/pseuds/Raggedpelt
Summary: A short one-shot on why Mandy tolerates Billy's idiocy. Takes place after Scary Poppins.





	A Thousand Mosquitos

Typically, Mandy was never the type to let even a modicum of power slip through her fingers, but this was getting unbearable. The whole of Endsville was an endless roar of completely unnecessary noise as the thoughts of every sentient and near-sentient creature buzzed through the air. None of the thoughts were particularly readable. She couldn’t “hear” them in a verbal sense.

No, instead Mandy was treated to the shrill whining of a thousand mosquitos. Some near, some distant, all of them irritating. Some days she could tune them out, but today it was proving to be too difficult. Billy’s seat was empty, and without his constant idiotic interruptions, Mrs. Butterbean was making a good deal of progress. At the rate she was covering material, Mandy was going to have to actually _study_ tonight to catch up. That wouldn’t do.

A few of the streams of consciousness were at least unique. Somewhere in one of the middle rows, Junior’s thoughts growled and rattled, betraying the unspeakable monstrosity that lurked beneath his harmless exterior. Grim was distant, still back home, but she could still feel the thrumming of his thoughts, a baritone that underlied all the other noise. Mindy’s thoughts hissed and bubbled like a cauldron. Irwin sounded like squeaking bats.

Not for the first time, Mandy considered forcing Grim to put an end to this. To silence the noise she heard with her mind instead of her ears. To allow a quiet room to actually _be_ a quiet room. She was certain that doing so would be within his powers, but she also knew that willingly giving up this.. “gift” would be Billy-level stupid.

Mandy had been very young when she’d discovered that she could separate out one of the little whirring tendrils of thought from the others, crush it, and force it to do her bidding, if only for a little while. Every now and then, she’d practice on her parents or some other convenient victim. This always led to a splitting headache, but the results were undeniable. Not long ago, she had seized control of all of them at once to deal with a pushy, troublesome Nanny. Bending all Endsville to her will, she had used the mob to make short work of the woman. Mandy had paid for that show of psychic force with a migraine that lasted three weeks, but it gave her proof of concept for what this ability might _really_ be able to do once she honed it.

The powers of coercion it granted her more than made up for any drawbacks, even on bad days like today. Mandy just had to deal with the cacophony until she got back home.  She glanced at the clock. _Six hours._ No. That was unacceptable. If she had to endure their whining thoughts for another six hours she was going to do something that would make the six-o-clock news.

Mandy was about to raise her hand to ask to go to the nurse when the noise around her abruptly stopped. She could still _feel_ the currents of thought, but more like vibrations than actual sound. A moment later, Billy burst in the classroom door.

“Sorry I’m late, Mrs. Butterbean!” he exclaimed, “I got my head stuck in the toaster oven again!”

“Take your seat, Billy,” Mrs. Butterbean replied, “Anyway, as I was saying, the French Revolution…”

As Billy settled into the seat next to Mandy, even the vibrations faded away. Mandy had noted the effect back when they first met; so far as she could figure, he was so intensely stupid that he jammed the signal of any thoughts nearby. The end result? Blissful silence. Billy was noisy, sure, but he was the kind of noisy that could be solved with a gag, a threat, or a pair of earplugs. Tolerating his idiocy was a small price to pay for having a “mute” button.

Throttling a relieved sigh, Mandy turned her attention back to the board. Perhaps today would be productive after all.


End file.
